Necessary Components of the High School Athlete’s
Training Program

By Grant Neary

For Click Here for orignal article.

I was a high school strength coach for many years.
Below are the top nine “rules” that I found to be important for success
as a high school strength coach.

 

1.      Training philosophy: Have a system in
place, practice it, and believe in it. Make sure your philosophy is
dynamic and adaptable to any sport, athlete, and situation that you may
encounter. Pull from multiple disciplines in the strength and
conditioning world. Read Charlie Francis,
Verkhoshansky,
Zatsiorsky,
Louie Simmons, and the other great minds. Mold their ideas into your own
plan to make your program better and ensure that your athletes achieve
at the highest levels.

 

2.      Dynamic warm-up: It does not have to be
long. It does not have to be overly extensive. Increase the body’s core
temperature, increase blood flow to the extremities, and prepare the
body for the main training session to follow. Don’t fatigue an athlete
to the point that it disrupts his or her training session. Don’t think
that high school athletes will properly warm-up on their own. Chances
are they may do a few static stretches and then throw 135 lbs on the bar
and start lifting. This can be a recipe for disaster.

 

3.      Mobility work: This can be included in your
dynamic warm-up or it can be done separately. The choice is yours. The
vast majority of high school athletes, especially the males, have
incredibly tight hamstrings, hip flexors, and heel cords. Focus on these
areas so that your athlete isn’t an injury waiting to happen.

 

4.      Appropriate strength training: Regardless
of the methodology of your program, realize that it must include
exercises that address absolute and relative strength, rate of force
development, pre-habilitation and injury prevention, and core strength
and stability.

 

 

5.      Training continuum: This does not mean that
a high school athlete needs to train 52 weeks a year. However, there
must be an off-season, pre-season, and in-season training regimen, and
it must be separated into blocks that address specific goals in these
different periods. Too many times, a program does not have any goals,
and too many times, a program just stops abruptly when an athlete’s
season begins.

 

6.      Muscle focus: Focus on the muscles that
can’t be seen in the mirror. Regardless of the sport, the development of
the posterior deltoids, upper back musculature, spinal erectors, glutes,
and hamstrings needs to comprise a huge concentration of the training
program.

 

7.      Base level conditioning work: Incorporate
into your program a conditioning program that will provide general
conditioning regardless of the athlete’s sport. Prepare your athletes
for any and all asinine conditioning drills that their sport coach may
have them participate in. Use multiple methods of conditioning (i.e.
sled, sprinting, Strongman, games, jogging, and body weight
calisthenics).

 

8.      Speed and change of direction development:
Speed and change of direction development should focus on quality
repetitions with full periods of recovery. It should not be confused
with conditioning. Have a goal and focus for each session. Don’t just
have an athlete run for the sake of running. Again, don’t confuse the
development of speed and change of direction with conditioning. They are
completely different and should not and cannot be done simultaneously.

 

9.      Restoration/recovery work: Use foam
rollers, the sled, feeder workouts, low level agility drills, static
stretching, or whatever other methods are available. Teach the high
school athlete about the restorative properties of proper nutrition and
hydration.

Grant Neary is the owner of Power Hitter Sports Performance LLC, a
performance enhancement training company based out of the Extra Innings
baseball training facility in Hillsborough, New Jersey. He also serves
as the head strength and conditioning coach for the New Jersey
Revolution, a professional football team and member of the Continental
Indoor Football League (CIFL). Grant has been a college and high school
strength coach and has also coached high school football and baseball.
When his college baseball career was cut short due to a shoulder injury,
he turned his attention to powerlifting. He has a bachelor’s degree in
physical education/exercise science, and he is a certified strength and
conditioning specialist (CSCS). Grant can be contacted at
powerhittersp@hotmail.com.

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